Fikac: Pauken keeps jobless checks coming

PEGGY FIKAC, AUSTIN BUREAU |
July 19, 2009

AUSTIN — Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Tom Pauken knows what it’s like to have a family member who’s unemployed — his grown son just got a new job after going several months without work.

He also says he's concerned for the many Texans staying on unemployment longer because they just can't find work.

“It's just very tough out there, and it's frustrating for people who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own,” said Pauken, appointed by GOP Gov. Rick Perry. “I don't think you've ever heard any cavalier comment from me about how wonderful everything is.”

Pauken's position gives him a chance to turn his concern into action. After his agency's staff said it might take months to get an extension of unemployment benefits into the hands of people who are exhausting their current allotment, he said that was too long.

By the end of the day Friday, the commission found a way to begin paying benefits by the end of the month (Perry said he had directed commission action on the matter as well).

Pauken, a former state GOP chair, expressed some frustration because, he said, he only became aware of the problem when he read about it in the paper. He said there had been “some ambiguity” in agency discussions.

“I don't like surprises,” Pauken said. “I don't mind if people are bringing me bad news. I don't like to find out after the fact we've got a significant problem that has been building for awhile.”

His reaction on the issue drew appreciation from advocates for labor and lower-income people, as did his earlier efforts to find a way for the state to take another $555 million in stimulus funds for unemployment. The money came with requirements for expanded benefits that were a deal killer for Perry, who often rails against Washington. Pauken wanted to find a way to take the money without the strings.

The Texas AFL-CIO's Rick Levy said his group has wide policy differences with Pauken but appreciated his speaking out on those issues.

Pauken also focuses on the bigger picture of problems he sees in the Obama administration's approach to the recession, contending it's not boosting private-sector job creation. He advocate moves including a business-tax overhaul that would replace the business income tax with a value-added tax, which is levied on the value added to a product as it moves through the manufacturing process.

Pauken knows first-hand the toll unemployment can take. When his son lost his job in auto financing, Pauken said it took a few months for him to land a good position. His son had a severance package and didn't file for unemployment benefits.

“It was a tough situation for him,” Pauken said last week. “He has just started work again a week ago, right after the birth of their second child. So he's fortunate. He was able to land on his feet. ... But this is tough on people.”